


Once Upon A (Parallel) Universe

by Thalassa



Category: The Voice (US) RPF, The Voice RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-05 19:18:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1829278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thalassa/pseuds/Thalassa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a parallel universe, some things change while others remain the same. </p><p>In this one, Shakira does not get together with Gerard Pique, Adam Levine does not get back together again with Behati Prinsloo, but the two of them still end up working together on The Voice. </p><p>And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a friendship becomes a love story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I admit it. I'm a Shakira-Adam shipper (I know the ship is called Shadam, but i'd rather completely spell their names, so please humor me). Have you seen how cute they were on The Voice? :)
> 
> I was looking for Shadam stories to read but found so few of them (and none here on AO3, as of this writing), that I decided to write a story instead. As I'm not comfortable in breaking up existing real-life couples in my stories, I decided to set this story in a parallel universe. 
> 
> This is a work in progress. Please feel free to share any constructive feedback. These would be very much appreciated. Thanks. :)

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was running late. And if there was one thing that she hated, it was being late. Never mind that she is an internationally known, award-winning singer, it was still a point of pride with her—you commit to something, then you have to be there. And more than that, you have to be there on time. However, this time around, she was not. And so she needed to focus. She was going to arrive at the venue soon, and she needed to be happy and smiling when she did so. It’s part of the job, after all. 

The limo stopped and they arrived at the awards show. Shakira took a deep breath, centered herself, and stepped out of the limo. It was crazy. Screaming fans, bright lights, camera flashbulbs… it was a circus of epic proportions. But it wasn't a problem. Shakira was used to it anyway. As she walked on the red carpet and posed for the photographers, she felt someone bump into her from behind. As she felt her body sway, a hand took hold of her waist to steady her. 

“Oh, fu-- I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”

Shakira turned and bumped eyes with Maroon 5’s frontman and People Magazine’s sexiest man alive, Adam Levine. She knew of his band's music, but she never met him before, and now, he just looked seriously apologetic, while photographers were busily snapping pictures that she was sure would turn up online in a couple of minutes. 

“Don’t worry,” she said, flashing him a smile. “I’m fine.”

In the background, the photographers were shouting, asking her if she was alright. 

“No harm done,” she shouted back with a wave. The photographers were then asking for pictures of her and Adam together. 

“I’m game if you’re game,” a voice above her head said. 

“Yeah,” Shakira said. “Why not?”

And that was how Shakira and Adam met for the first time.

\----------

“Hi, I’m Adam,” he said, arm outstretched for a handshake after the photographers got the pictures they wanted. 

“Shakira,” she said, reaching out her hand to take his. 

“Sorry about bumping into you again like that. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Hey, you caught me. That’s what matters,” Shakira said, when her phone suddenly rang, making her then realize that she was still holding hands with Adam. She discreetly removed her hand from his, taking out her phone from her purse. Looking at the phone, she saw the name of her manager Jay flashing on the screen.

“Sorry, I have to take this. Nice meeting you, though,” Shakira said, flashing Adam a smile. 

“Uh, yeah,” Adam replied, flashing a grin, with dimples showing. “It was great. Well, not the bumping and you almost falling but it was great meeting you.”

Shakira smiled again, while slowly walking away. 

\-----

The voice of Jay Brown, president of Roc Nation, known to the world at large as music mogul Jay-Z and spouse to music superstar Beyonce, boomed on the speakers as Shakira answered her phone. 

“Shaki! Just saw you on E!. You okay?,” he asked.

“Silly accident. No biggie. He apologized anyway.”

“Adam Levine, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you met him before?” 

“No, no, just then.”

“And you posed for pictures afterwards?”

“Well, yeah. The press was asking for pics, and we were okay with it, so why not? Why? Did the pics turn out bad?”

Jay cleared his throat. “Mark Burnett called me last night asking me if you’d be open to joining The Voice.”

Shakira raised her eyebrows in surprise. “The Voice? Isn’t that the show Adam Levine is on? What happened to the other judges?”

“Adam and Blake Shelton are still in it, but Christina Aguilera and Cee-Lo aren’t joining next season. They’ve gotten Usher to take Cee-Lo’s spot, and they’re eyeing you to take Christina’s.” 

Shakira paused. She’s never been in a reality show before, but from what she heard about The Voice, it wasn’t your typical reality show anyway. “What do you think?,” she asked her manager. 

“I think it’s a good opportunity, Shak. Get to help new singers and coach them, broaden your market reach, meet new people… Why don’t you check out the show online first, then let’s talk about it, ‘kay? You up with that?”

“Alright. Will call you as soon as I get to see some videos. Give me a couple of days.” 

“Cool,” Jay replied. Just as Shakira was about to say goodbye, Jay spoke again.

“Hey, Shak?” 

“Yeah?”

“Bey saw the thing on E! too. And she told me to tell you that you and Adam Levine looked cute together." In the background, Shakira suddenly heard distinctively feminine laughter. Then Jay spoke again. "You be careful, though.” 

_Huh? ___

__“Bye, Shaki,” Jay then said, and put down the phone._ _

__Shakira looked at her phone wonderingly, shaking her head.  
\-----_ _


	2. Chapter Two

Shakira was having a great time.

The new season of The Voice had started, with Adam, Blake, Usher and Shakira at the helm as the judges. Shakira decided to sign up for The Voice about two weeks after finding out from her manager about the offer. 

She never thought she would enjoy it this much. She was used to being on stage, no doubt, but before the first blind auditions show started, she had so many butterflies in her stomach that she just couldn’t keep still. It was embarrassing given that the other new judge, Usher, was just as cool as a cucumber. 

The coaches have met a couple of times before the first show to get to know each other. Mark Burnett gave them his American Express card to use for a night out-- same as what he did before for Blake, Adam, Christina and Cee Lo-- and then they also had to rehearse for their group performance, which led them to spend more time together. Shaki felt that they got along very well. She just hoped it would still be that way when the show started.

As she remembered the first day of blind auditions, her thoughts flashed to that time when she was pacing furiously backstage when Adam came up to her to ask discreetly, “Are you okay?”

“I’m so nervous,” she confessed. “I never thought I’d be this nervous.” 

“You’ll be okay,” he said comfortingly. “Blake and I have survived it so far—it’ll be easy as pie for you.” 

Shakira just look at him, and took a couple of deep breaths. However, the butterflies still remained and she was stiff as a board. She then felt two hands slowly kneading her shoulders, and it felt like heaven. 

“You have very good hands, Adam,” Shakira said, giving a little groan while enjoying the massage. 

She then heard someone clearing his voice. “Um… I don’t think this kind of conversation is for public consumption, guys.” Usher’s voice said. 

“What???,” Shakira answered back, looking innocently at the eight-time Grammy award winner. “He does! Seriously! You have to try it!”

Usher looked at her with an unconvinced look on his face. “Nu-uh… I don’t think so.”

She turned to Adam. “Adam! C’mon, you have to give Usher a massage.” 

She then saw Blake moving towards them. “Blake! Tell Usher how good Adam is at giving massages!”

“Well,” Blake said, giving Adam a look. “I’ve been told before by a reliable source that Adam gives great massages, but since he only gives it to girls, I can’t really vouch for it.” 

Just as Shakira was about to look Adam in the eye, the Production Assistant asked the coaches to all get ready to go onstage as they were going to be called any minute. Shakira then felt the hands behind her back give a final squeeze while a voice comfortingly said, “Relax, okay? You’ll do great.” 

And then they heard their names being called one by one.

\-----

For all of Shakira’s nervousness backstage, once the blind auditions started, she was like a tiger with claws bared out to get the contestants she wanted. Adam, Blake and Usher didn’t know what hit them. Adam, who actually felt how tense her shoulders were backstage that first night, was especially surprised with the change. 

During one of the breaks after a particularly fierce battle over one outstanding contestant whom Shakira won, Blake shouted to Shakira from his chair, “Are you sure that you were really nervous backstage? Or was that just your strategy?”

“It wasn’t an act!,” Shakira answered back. "I’d like to warn you that I’m competitive, though.” 

Usher chimed in. “Thanks for the tip, Shaki. Because, really? After that battle, I gotta say that you Latina women are tough!”

With that, Shakira laughingly blew Usher a kiss. “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

\-----

_Damn_ , Adam thought while looking at Shakira while she was having a dance-off with Usher during the break, while Blake was enjoying the show. _These newbies got moves!_

In the beginning, Adam and Blake were wondering how they would mesh with their new teammates, most especially Shakira. They got along during that Mark Burnett-sponsored dinner, but then again, one never knew.

They shouldn’t have worried. They were several episodes in, and Shakira and Usher were doing really well, and there was definitely good chemistry all around. 

All throughout, Usher was chill and relaxed with his one leg up, while radiating cool and bantering with the other coaches. 

And Shakira? Shaki was hands-down adorable. Her lines to the contestants were first-rate. Her comment on Adam and Blake almost being deaf ( _“These two coaches have been here for years. They’re jaded, they’re almost deaf!”_ ) and her statement that her hips don’t lie, and that she doesn’t either ( _and really, who can forget those hips?!?_ ) just made Adam grin like crazy. Her sales pitch that she, like Alexander the Great, was a strategist who won wars while the other coaches were like Hannibal, who was a great tactician who didn’t win, had Adam Googling said historical figures during the break. 

Her enthusiasm was infectious, too, as she sang and danced along with the contestants in her chair. And although she was fiercely competitive, every time she’d win a contestant away from the other coaches, she’d feel so bad that she ended up hugging them during the break. She was sweet, intelligent, fierce, and crazily sexy all throughout. And that is where the problem lay.

Adam was tagged by the media for having a type-- that type being young, tall, thin, white Victoria’s Secret supermodels. He resented that, but he did privately admit that he did tend to notice young, tall, thin, white Victoria’s Secret supermodels, much more than others. And yes, his last couple of girlfriends were young, tall, thin, white Victoria’s Secret supermodels. So? What's the big deal with that? 

However, ever since starting this season of The Voice, the small, fiery Colombian just kept on making him smile so much during every show that his cheeks felt sore at the end of each show. Her smile made his heart skip a beat ( _or maybe two, Adam wasn't sure_ ), and he couldn’t deny that he remembered all her interactions with him, even those where she deftly smacked him down. Adam was not the type to fondly remember smackdowns with him as the subject. But Shakira's smackdowns seemed to be an exception, as these just made him smile. Goofily. 

All these, Adam thought, were danger signs. 

Just as The Voice's theme song sounded in the background (indicating that the cameras were now starting to roll), Adam froze as he suddenly had a realization. 

_Oh, shit_ , he told himself, as the people around him started clapping wildly. _I have a crush on Shakira._


End file.
